Report links DEA to Secret Service prostitution scandal

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. drug enforcement agents “facilitated a sexual encounter” between a prostitute and a Secret Service agent before an international summit in Colombia last April, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing a Justice Department investigation.

The two Drug Enforcement Administration agents also admitted paying for the sexual services of a prostitute, and used their government-issued BlackBerry devices to arrange the encounters, NBC reported.

A summary of the Justice Department’s findings said the agents tried to destroy incriminating information or initially lied to investigators about the incidents, according to the report.

But the summary concluded that the agents’ actions did not warrant criminal prosecution and said the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to start any legal proceedings, referring the case to the DEA for “action it determines to be appropriate.”

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The Justice Department’s office of the inspector general had no comment on Thursday evening.

It was the latest turn in the Colombia prostitution scandal, in which a dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Barack Obama’s visit there in April.

The Department of Homeland Security found that their actions did not compromise the president’s safety. At least seven of the employees have left the agency since the scandal broke.